English T20 coach praises ground staff in St Lucia

Ground staff at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground have been hailed for their outstanding work

GROS ISLET, St Lucia, , CMC – England’s head coach Mark Robinson has heaped praise on the curator and ground staff at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground for their excellent work which resulted in Group A matches of the ICC Women’s World T20 being played at the ground despite heavy rainfall.

Robinson went as far as to describe head curator Kent Crafton as a “legend and a hero” for his leadership in ensuring that matches were not abandoned.

“This groundsman here is a hero. He has really looked after us here and made sure we had nets and facilities to work with. He must have been under so must stress with the amount of rain and water he had to deal with, but he has been so accommodating and highly professional and have tried their very best. That’s’ why you want this competition and this island to get some joy and be blessed with some sunshine on this back end,” Robinson said.

England are currently second in Group A behind the West Indies and will face South Africa in an all-important clash on Friday.

Their first game against Sri Lanka was abandoned due to heavy rainfall, but they rebounded to defeat Bangladesh in their second game.

“The field is a lot better today, there are a few small wet areas but we are quite satisfied with what we see here. It’s a slow outfield but … everything looks good,” Robinson said.

West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor also hailed the efforts of the ground staff.

“Yeah, I think they did a fantastic job. Kent and I are really good friends and I know he’s really good at his job, and we’ve been talking and he told me that he’s been doing – he’s been overworked to get everything going. So that’s fantastic on their part,” Taylor said.